Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Karl Rove Tries to Walk Back Comments Opposing Tea Party with His New PAC

Are conservatives going to fall for latest from Karl Rove? Not on your life!

Karl Rove is now trying to walk back his comments about his Conservative Victory Project that it is not out to take out Tea Party candidates. Bet me! Noted that he used Hannity of Fox News to try to walk back his original comments but it is not working any better then Cong Eric Cantor trying to make the GOP House Republicans kindler and gentler with the same agenda and plagiarizing of President Obama in his speech.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — The biggest donors in the Republican Party are financing a new group to recruit seasoned candidates and protect Senate incumbents from challenges by far-right conservatives and Tea Party enthusiasts who Republican leaders worry could complicate the party’s efforts to win control of the Senate.

The group, the Conservative Victory Project, is intended to counter other organizations that have helped defeat establishment Republican candidates over the last two election cycles. It is the most robust attempt yet by Republicans to impose a new sense of discipline on the party, particularly in primary races.

Is this about trying to defeat Cong Steve King in the primary for the Senator Harkin seat? If it is, the Rove faction may have bought off more then they can handle. King had everything thrown at him including the kitchen sink and still came out a winner after his seat was gerrymandered to make him lose. Love him or hate him, Steve King has a huge following of grassroots who are willing to hit the ground running for him versus big money. My money is on the grassroots for King not big donors. Obviously Rove and his big donors don't understand Middle America and how they think. Been inside the beltway for way too many years.

Karl Rove appeared on Fox News' Hannity to defend his new group, the Conservative Victory Project, against complaints from fellow conservatives that it would undermine the Tea Party movement. Rove, a Fox News contributor who regularly appears on the network advance his political agenda, insisted that the group is not an attempt to protect the GOP establishment over Tea Party candidates, but to promote "the most conservative candidate that can win."

The New York Times reported on February 2 that the Conservative Victory Project , which is backed by Rove and his allies who were also involved in his American Crossroads super PAC, is "the most robust attempt yet by Republicans to impose a new sense of discipline on the party."

During the February 5 edition of Hannity, host Sean Hannity noted that Rove's new effort has "drawn the ire of conservatives and the Tea Party," who are "accusing Karl Rove of putting the establishment ahead of conservative principles." Indeed, conservative media figures have been vocal about their opposition to Rove's new anti-Tea Party project.

Hannity expressed his own concern about the group, saying to Rove: "My fear is, is that if Karl Rove is fighting the Tea Party and conservatives are battling establishment candidates ... I am concerned that we're going to lose."

Rove denied that he was protecting establishment Republicans from Tea Party challengers, but referred to Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock, who both lost their 2012 Senate races after making incendiary comments about rape, as examples of the need to recruit and champion "better" conservative candidates.

(snip)

This is not the first time Rove has used Fox News as a platform to promote his political agenda. During the 2012 election cycle, Rove was a consistentpresence on the network, often parroting the talking points from his own super PAC ads.

Rove also regularlyappears in the pages of The Wall Street Journal as a columnist, often to promote the agenda of American Crossroads, yet during election season his relationship to the political organization was rarelydisclosed.

Mother Jones News has this to say in this excerpt about an upcoming internal battle in the GOP which is most likely going to end up splitting the GOP or at least severely weaken the Party:

The Conservative Victory Fund's creation threatens to stoke an already fiery internal battle over the future of the Republican Party. There are the Roves and Laws of the GOP, the pragmatic Beltway operators who backed Mitt Romney and who believe the party must tone down the demagoguery on immigration and social issues if they ever want to control of Congress and the White House again. On the other side are the ideologues, the GOP's conservative wing, the Koch-backed groups and tea partiers and Grover Norquist acolytes who believe the party's future lies in veering hard to the right and doubling down on pure conservative ideals.

With Rove's new super-PAC in the mix, the GOP's slate of 2014 primaries will be even nastier than expected in states such as Iowa, Georgia, and Kentucky, among others. The GOP needs to win six seats in 2014 to take back control of the Senate, and if that requires some intraparty combat, the Conservative Victory Fund looks ready to go to war. By the end of 2014's primary season, don't be surprised, to borrow a phrase from Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, to see quite a lot of blood and teeth left on the floor.

Mother Jones has a good handle on what is about to go down between Rove and the Establishment versus Koch Brothers and their groups (Tea Party Party, Freedom Works, Americans for Prosperity, ALEC) then Hannity IMHO. Once again Fox News has given Rove a platform to deliver his spin just like they did in the 2012 Presidential election. Lack of journalistic integrity by Fox News is stunning.

Mark Levin minced no words what he thought of Karl Rove's idea calling his effort 'diabolical' which almost beats Robert Reich's comment on Twitter today comparing Rove helping more moderate candidates to Hershey trying to make asparagus. That was classic. From Levin's comments, I don't think he is a big fan of Karl Rove's.

Conservative radio host Mark Levin went after former George W. Bush advisor, Karl Rove, during his radio show on Monday after Rove announced the formation of a new PAC that would aid moderate Republican politicians against tea party challengers in primary races. Levin called Rove’s effort ‘diabolical’ and listed the many GOP officeholders who would not be in power but for the tea party insurgency.

“We’re being stabbed in the back,” Levin declared.

“Here’s a project funded by crony capitalists, funded by corporatists — who are not conservative — funding a group called the Conservative Victory Project,” Levin began. “This is the sort of thing Barack Obama does; this is a thing Marxists do; they give a name to themselves which has nothing to do with what they’re really up to in order to try and control the propaganda.”

“I’m just showing you how diabolical this effort is,” Levin continued.

He read a portion of the mission statement of the new PAC, taking issue most with the organization’s stated agenda of “imposing discipline” on the Republican Party. Levin listed a number of sitting Republican officeholders who emerged from the primary process backed by tea party support. Levin suggested that it was the tea party which imposed discipline on the GOP.

“The diversity that comes to the Republican Party is through the conservative and tea party movement, not through the Republican establishment,” Levin said. “They backed [Charlie] Crist in Florida. They backed the moderate lieutenant governor in Texas. They put up a moderate attorney general in Kentucky to try and beat Rand Paul. They backed the moderate-to-liberal Republican longtime serving Senator Bob Bennett serving in Utah.”

Hot Air also wasn't the least bit impressed with Rove's new organization. Allahpundit had this to say:

We knew this was coming, no? A month ago, Politico reported that Senate Republicans were planning to intervene more aggressively in GOP primaries in hopes of clearing the field for their preferred candidates. A few days later, Steve LaTourette announced that the Republican Main Street Partnership was dropping “Republican” from its name and would intervene on behalf of centrist candidates from both parties in congressional elections. Now here comes Rove’s group, American Crossroads, pledging untold millions towards electing the most allegedly “electable” candidate in Republican primaries. No more Akins — and maybe no more Marco Rubios, Rand Pauls, and Ted Cruzes too?

The group, the Conservative Victory Project, is intended to counter other organizations that have helped defeat establishment Republican candidates over the last two election cycles. It is the most robust attempt yet by Republicans to impose a new sense of discipline on the party, particularly in primary races.

“There is a broad concern about having blown a significant number of races because the wrong candidates were selected,” said Steven J. Law, the president of American Crossroads, the “super PAC” creating the new project. “We don’t view ourselves as being in the incumbent protection business, but we want to pick the most conservative candidate who can win.”…

The group’s plans, which were outlined for the first time last week in an interview with Mr. Law, call for hard-edge campaign tactics, including television advertising, against candidates whom party leaders see as unelectable and a drag on the efforts to win the Senate. Mr. Law cited Iowa as an example and said Republicans could no longer be squeamish about intervening in primary fights.
“We’re concerned about Steve King’s Todd Akin problem,” Mr. Law said. “This is an example of candidate discipline and how it would play in a general election. All of the things he’s said are going to be hung around his neck.”

Don't see any of the conservative media buying off on Karl Rove trying to walk back his comments. In fact, most don't believe anything Rove has to say. Too many conservatives gave Rove way too much credit when Bush almost lost Florida in 2000, Ohio in 2004, the Senate/House in 2006, etc. So why is Rove called this big guru. Is it because the media doesn't really investigate and just run with a narrative?

The biggest question is what are Republicans across the Country who are not hard right and have common sense going to do in all of this. Will a new party rise like the Phoenix?

Stay tuned and while you are at it, pop some popcorn, kick back, and watch the fight because this is most likely going to be a long drawn out, nasty affair. Democrats have the advantage now for '14. When you add Republicans who will not only vote but help Democrats in the '14 elections to throw out the knuckleheads like the following members of the House as ranked by Alternet:

Impeach the president because he wants to reduce gun violence: Freshman Reps. Trey Radel (R-FL) and Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) along with Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) all suggested that the president be impeached because of his efforts to reduce gun violence

“Welfare Moms” wanting to commit fraud are to blame for gun violence: Rep. James Lankford (R-OK), a member of the House Republican leadership, identified an unlikely culprit for the nation’s gun violence epidemic: “welfare moms.” Specifically, Lankford says welfare moms who are intentionally drugging their children in order to commit Social Security fraud are to blame. Lankford also vowed this week to use the “power of humiliation” to undermine an LGBT program.

Obama only upholds the “Soviet Constitution”: Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) attacked the president this week by alleging that “the only Constitution that Barack Obama upholds is the Soviet constitution.” With the retirement of Rep. Ron Paul, Broun is now also the House’s foremost opponent of the Federal Reserve.

Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11: Former Vice President Dick Cheney spent years telling America that Saddam Hussein had something to do with the 9/11 terror attacks, an assertion that turned out to be categorically false. Two weeks ago, Rep. Tom Cotton (R-AR), himself an Iraq War veteran, resurrected this conspiracy theory as part of an effort to discredit Obama’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, former Sen. Chuck Hagel.

Voted to leave Hurricane Sandy victims out in the cold: House Republicans broke a longstanding, bipartisan tradition of assisting their fellow Americans who are in need following a disaster. Speaker Boehner had already delayed aid for weeks due to political considerations in his caucus and 179 Republicans added insult to injury when they voted against helping Sandy victims. At least 36 of these Republicans voted against the aid despite having previously sought aid for disasters in their own states. Fortunately, the aid package still passed because House Democrats overwhelmingly backed it.

What can you say except there are quite a few Republican office holders across America who are putting Party and being a hard right conservative over what is best for the Country. Time for them all to go!